


Repercussion

by Alabaster86



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-07
Updated: 2015-02-07
Packaged: 2018-03-10 22:25:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3305585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alabaster86/pseuds/Alabaster86
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katara ponders what almost happened with Yon Rah.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Repercussion

Sleep eluded Katara. It drifted away, always just out of reach, like one of the slippery toddlers she used to mind back home. No matter how tightly she closed her eyes, how much she concentrated on going under, she could not.

The water bender pushed back the silk sheet, luxury she was not accustomed to, and padded to the wide window. Below, the waves hit the shore, an ancient rhythm that always soothed the girl. Above, the moon shone, its light silver and shimmering, calling to Katara, stirring the power inside.

Drawn outside, she made her way through the Fire Lord’s beach house. So strange to sleep beneath the enemy’s roof, his son here with them, so unsettling to walk the hallways that Ozai had, her bare feet against smooth wood boards he had trod upon, her hand trailing along the banister the Fire Lord had touched.

She shivered, goose bumps appearing on her arms and hurried to the door, shutting it with care behind her. Once at the beach, she played with the water, drawing it up and moving it above her head in graceful arcs. Without awareness, Katara smiled. Water bending always brought her peace.  She felt at one with her element. It was a part of her after all, a part of every living thing. 

The water hit the sand with a plop, sinking down. Katara’s sense of peace vanished. She pondered what had almost happened with Yon Rha. She pondered the power she possessed, the ability to manipulate the water inside a human being, twist and bend a person, take away their control, make it hers.  She could stop the flow of blood, kill in an instant. It was too much power and the fact that Katara had been tempted by it terrified her more than the Fire Lord, more than loss or grief, more than _anything_ else.

Sitting down on the sand, Katara hugged her legs and buried her face in her knees, shame, hot and terrible coursing through her body.  She wept then, the tears scalding too.

_But I didn’t hurt him. I wanted to, so badly. He took away my mother. He took away my childhood. He took away my father’s wife, my brother’s mother. He took so much._

Was wanting to hurt someone, no kill someone, just the thought and the desire, near equal to the action?  Did walking away from Yon Rha, forgiving Zuko, make the rage and hate she had held in heart inconsequential?  Katara did not know the answer. But she did know that her decision, both of them, had been the right ones. She knew that Aang loved her and understood.  She knew that in the future, she might face the same kind of internal battle. 

Katara hoped that each time, right would win.

 

 


End file.
